Beautiful Country: A Read with Jenna Pick: A Memoir of an Undocumented Childhood

I don't normally read non fiction and many of the first reads are stinkers but this one is a real gem. Even though its a memoir it reads like a nkvdl. The writing grows increasingly beautiful and the last chapter is magnificent. I'm thankful Qian gave me a glimpse of what its like to be an immigrant. I do recommend this book.

I bought this book to read and discuss for a book club. I usually don't read memoirs and was pleasantly surprised. The author relates the story of how she came to America with her mother to join her father in New York. Her parents were respected professors in China and were now reduced to menial jobs in order to survive. A new sensation for her was constant hunger. In spite of the hardships, she learns her new language and thrives.The author writes beautifully and with clarity of purpose. I was particularly struck by the contrast between their life in Maoist China, where her parents were successful, respected professionals who escaped to America to have a better life only to live in virtual squalor and constant struggle to survive. This is not the typical American view of life as it was under the oppressive Maoist regime.As an animal lover, I hated the way her father treated the poor cat and how the author also came to ultimately reject it, too.The ending seemed rushed, as if she were trying to finish to meet a deadline. Overall, I am happy she survived and became successful in spite or, or maybe because of, the difficulties.

The author describes the trauma that she and her family experiences as undocumented Chinese immigrants in the US. It reminds us of the suffering of all those are undocumented and highlights that we are all humans

Such an important story that needed to be told. Book was enthralling and I couldn’t put it down. The writing was beautiful. Finished it in 2 days.As an American Chinese, I related so much. My first memory I experienced of racism is when someone called me “pancake face” on the playground. Telling the story of our traumas is important to fighting racism. The story of the man who let his dog attack the author (and was pleased about it) is painful but would otherwise go unsaid.I’m appalled by the negative reviews of this book, saying the story is unbelievable or criticizing her dad for having a gym membership when times were better for them. They were clearly missing the point of this story.I only wish I knew what happened with the authors mom at the end of the story! I hope she found fulfillment in the end.

The author's story is remarkable and after a slow start her book is engaging. However she plays up her impossible plight a bit too much and in parts it starts to seem tendentious and something approaching unbelievable. She indeed did suffer a lot. She worked, at least for a short time, in a sweat shop with her mother and didn't have enough to eat. No one should have to suffer like that, especially as a 7 year old. That she's accomplished what she has is noteworthy and great.Where she lost me a bit is that, although she was quick to acknowledge her woeful circumstances and how bad things were, she rarely acknowledged any good breaks. For example, the reader is reminded of her overwhelming poverty and lack of food constantly, and that seemed very plausible when she first got to America. However, clearly her family's plight got better over the course of the book (her father bought a car, her mother earned some sort of U.S. degree, etc.) but she kept going back to the fact she didn't have enough to eat. How is that possible? Were her parents purposely depriving her of food? She mentioned her mother would purchase lottery tickets every day at some point, but she still would go back to not getting enough to eat. Another issue: Very little about her parents makes sense. She paints them out to be highly superstitious, gamblers (at least her mother), and almost entirely unconcerned with school. If she didn't slip in that they were both professors in China you would have thought they were rural farmers and nearly illiterate and didn't care at all about education, literacy, math, etc. The reality is her mother was a math and computer science professor and had published multiple books. She was quick to mention that she taught her self to read, but then she slipped in that her father had taught her phonics and presumably the English alphabet. It sounds to me like her English professor father played a big role in her education. My point is that, although her life generally was terrible, she's lucky her parents were professors. It's OK to acknowledge that you're lucky in some ways even if your life otherwise is terrible. I suppose a bit of gratitude and acknowledging the role they played would have taken away from the hard luck tenor of the story (she's hungry, she's so smart but no one is helping her at all, etc.) she was trying to tell. The author went to Swarthmore (the #1 liberal arts school in US) and then Yale Law School (the #1 law school in the US) but there was not a word of thanks to anyone or anything for how she got there, although there was plenty of grousing about how different she was from her classmates. The one story she mentioned from Swarthmore was someone telling her that she's not a superstar or something along those lines.I was poor and raised by a parent who thought college was waste of time. Through chance and hard work, I ended up at Yale Law School as well. Most of the kids there came from privilege. But get this - they were also really smart, energetic, curious, hard working, and on the whole exceptional. Although it would be easy for me to dwell on all of the ways I was different from just about everyone there and whine about my lack of privilege, I was lucky to be there. Further once I graduated, I was now very clearly among the most privileged people in the world. Just because your life is hard or terrible at some stage does not mean you are a victim your entire life. The author is now among the top, say, .1% of all Americans. I think that warrants some acknowledgement.

Insight into life as a young immigrant but experiences are similar to anyone who is bullied. No explanation or apology for why the family didn’t come to the US legally which would have been helpful context.

This book was a selection for a book club. It is a true story of an Asian family living illegally in the US and how they cope with many problems to overcome. It is sad but enlightening.

It isn’t often that you are able to see life so clearly through someone else’s eyes. Beautiful Country allows the reader to do that and offers a deep look into the immigration experience. It is beautifully written and filled with so many details that allow the reader to understand the turmoil this small family endures and survives. One of my favorite memoirs!

Good

This is the story of thousand of immigrants around the world. I think most people should read it.

It was an interesting novel.

Was dieses Mädchen in ihrem Leben durchmacht geht zu Herzen. Von China geht es in die USA, allerdings illegal, was Julie aber anfangs nicht weiß. So lebt die Familie in großer Armut und Julie muss schon als Kind in einem Sweat Shop mitarbeiten - neben der Schule. Dennoch schafft sie mit Hilfe von Büchern als Autodidaktin den schulischen Aufstieg. Diese Geschichte könnte erfunden sein und man würde sagen, sie sei zu übertrieben. Diese Geschichte ist aber wahr und zeigt wie gnadenlos das Leben in den USA ohne offizielle Papiere ist. Zugleich macht dieses Buch Mut, denn Julie ist ein bemerkenswerter Mensch, der immer wieder aufsteht und weitermacht. So entsteht Hoffnung. Und Julie zeigt, dass man mit Beharrlichkeit und einem starken Willen alles erreichen kann.

A powerful read through the eyes of an undocumented child- in this moving memoir, Qian Julie Wang gives voice to the young girl she once was, navigating the reader through often difficult/complex life experiences and lessons she was forced to learn at a young age due to her and her parents undocumented life. References to her former life in China is contrasted often with the American experience. What made me reflect most whilst reading this book on a personal level, is the strong sense of dependance, fragility, vulnerability that often accompanies a child, due to the choices one’s parents make, which can both have a positive and negative impact. But also, this memoir served as an example of how our life experiences and sometimes even our traumas, have the power to not only transform us, but also possess the potential to inevitably provide us with the knowledge and resilience we need to become who we want to be.